HINDUSTAN Sanitaryware plans to invest Rs 195 crore to almost double the production capacity of its container glass division to 750 tonnes within a year following increased demand.

Mr R.K. Somany, Chairman and Managing Director, said that about Rs 110 crore of the planned investment has already been put in.

The investment comes on the heels of an increase in sales and capacity utilisation in 2002-03.

The division's sales depend on the demand from the end-users such as soft drinks companies and the pharmaceutical industry.

Mr Somany was in Chennai to address a meeting of the Employers' Federation of Southern India.He said that the division's turnover for 2003-04 would be in the region of Rs 300 crore. It contributes about 55 per cent of the company's turnover.

Hindustan Sanitaryware has tried to spin off the division into a separate company in order to attract a strategic investor in glass. In its current form, the company includes the sanitaryware division too.